Coin controlled signal and chance device



July 6, 1965 v. E. STANTON COIN CONTROLLED SIGNAL AND CHANGE DEVICE Filed Dec. 15, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig.

Fig. 3

92 Was 5 Stan/on 1N VEN TOR July 6, 1965 v. E. STANTON 3, 3, 7

COIN CONTROLLED SIGNAL AND CHANGE DEVICE Filed Dec. 15, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 5

Fig. 6

Vi/as E. Stanton INVENTOR.

9 BY 25-10mmuufimqfim United States Patent 3,193,071 COIN CONTROLLED SIGNAL AND CHANCE DEVICE Vilas E. Stanton, I325 S. Main St., Minot, N. Dali. Filed Dec. 13, 1963, Ser. No. 331,644 4 Claims. (Cl. 194-12) The present invention generally relates to a coin controlled apparatus and more particularly to a coin controlled signal device indicating the absence of deposit of coins when a chance device is operated with the operation of the chance device remaining the same whether or not a coin is deposited.

In many organizations including various civic, fraternal and the like, it is quite customary to provide a door prize or other prizes to be awarded to the holder of a ticket having a certain number thereon. These tickets are obtained by the members or visitors of such an organization when they enter the meeting, social gathering or the like by donating to a charity. It is the general practice that donations to charity are completely voluntary and the member or visitor will obtain a ticket and subsequently place a donation or not place a donation in the charity box depending upon his particular wishes. Where there is no specific reminder to the recipient of the ticket as to the desirability of donating into the charity box, it quite often occurs that such donations do not reach expectations. Therefore, it is the primary object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which will more effectively promote collection of donations since a signal device will be operated if a chance device is operated without donation of a coin.

In carrying out the present invention, there is provided a rotatable table surface having dice thereon which is operated in response to depression of a handle or lever. Each individual is entitled to depress the lever when they enter the meeting or gathering. Each time the lever is operated, the turntable or disk will rotate and door prizes may be awarded when certain numbers appear on the dice. When the lever is pushed downwardly or operated for operating the turntable, a signal of an audible nature will be energized and at the same time an indicator will show through a viewing area for indicating that the play or actuation of the turntable was free that is, not accompanied by a donation. On the other hand, when a donation is made and a coin dropped into the proper chute, the signal device is not operated but the chance device is automatically actuated by a pin operated switch and the viewing window will reveal bonus therethrough with the entire apparatus returning to a normal position after a predetermined length of time.

A further important object of the present invention is to provide a device of the nature described which is relatively simple in construction, adapted for many uses, relatively inexpensive to manufacture and well adapted for the particular purposes for which the same is specifically intended.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described, and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, where- :in like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the device of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the base of the device illustrating the contacts therefor;

FIGURE 3 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially upon a plane passing along section line 33 of 3,l93,7l Patented July 6, 1965 FIGURE 1 illustrating the details of construction of the device;

FIGURE 4 is a detailed sectional view taken substantially upon a plane passing along section line 4-4 of FIGURE 3 illustrating the details of the contact mechanism in the base;

FIGURE 5 is a detailed sectional view taken substantially upon a plane passing along section line 5-5 of FIGURE 1 illustrating further structural details of the mechanism;

FIGURE 6 is a detailed sectional view taken substantially upon a plane passing along section line 6--6 of FIGURE 1 illustrating the coin chute and control mechanism for the device;

FIGURE 7 is a sectional view similar to FIGURE 6 but illustrating the orientation of components when a coin is dropped into the chute;

FIGURE 8 is a transverse, sectional view taken substantially upon a plane passing along section line 88 of FIGURE 1 illustrating further details of the chance controlled disk control mechanism; and

FiGURE 9 is a plan view of a disk used in the structure.

Referring now specifically to the drawings, the numeral It) generally designates the device of the present invention which includes a coin control device generally designated by the numeral 12 and a chance device generally designated by the numeral 14 which may be in the form of hollow housings that are detachably supported upon a base member 16 which interconnects the same and provides removability and interchangeability of the components.

Referring initially to FIGURES 3, 5 and 8, the chance device 14 includes a hollow parallelepiped housing or casing 16 having an electrical conductor or cord 18 extending therefrom and provided with a suitable male plug 29 on the free end thereof for insertion into a female house plug or outlet. The electrical conductor 18 extends into a transformer 22 of the step down type which will reduce the voltage from a dangerous normal volt outlet to a safe voltage such as 12 volts or the like.

The top wall of the casing 16 is provided with an enlarged circular opening 24 having a transparent panel 26 engaging the inner surface of the housing and forming a closure for the opening 24. A depending cylindrical member 28 is provided with a laterally extending flange 31) secured to the housing 16 by fasteners 32 with the flange 30 serving to retain the transparent panel 26 in position.

The lower edge of the cylindrical projection 28 terminates adjacent the upper surface of a circular turntable 34 which may have a felt upper surface 36 which may be green or any other suitable color. A plurality of dice 38 are mounted or disposed on the upper surface 36 of the turntable 34 and when the turntable 34 rotates, the dice will be rolled so that a particular series of numbers will face upwardly when the dice come to rest.

The turntable 34 is provided with an adapter 40 on the undersurface thereof which is attached to the drive shaft 42 of a vertically disposed low voltage electric motor 44 carried by and supported by brackets 46 secured to a bottom 48 for the housing or casing 16.

On one side wall of the casing or housing 16, there is mounted for vertical swinging movement an operating lever 50 which operating lever is carried by a shaft 52 supported by the housing with the inner end of the shaft 52 having an elongated arm 54 extending therefrom with a tension coil spring 56 interconnecting the arm 54 and the housing 16 and particularly the top wall thereof for urging the lever 50 and arm 54 to an upper position.

Intermediate the ends of the arm 54 there is provided a pair of-contact points 53 for engagement with a pair of contact points-60carried by a switch body 62 supported from the Wall of the casing or housing 16 which also carsnsaozr it ries the shaft 52 as shown in FIGURE 8. When the,

lever is pusheddownwardly, the contact points 58 engage the contact points 60 thus closing a low voltage circuit for a purpose described hereinaften Also disposed in the same wall-which has the operating lever 50 mounted is a viewing window 64 behind which:

is rotatable a disk 66 having a projection 68 on, the edge thereof and having thejwords bonus": and free ar-. ranged on the face thereof for viewing through the Window. 64 depending upon the angular position ofthe disk 66. Also, the disk 66 is provided with a lateral projecting pin,70 disposed in the path of movement of the outer proaching the device will depress the lever 59 if he does 10 not place a, coin in the slot 110. The turntable 34 will be rotated even if no coin is deposited. When the lever 50 end of the'a'rm 54'Whereby the arm 54 will engage the pin 70 and move the same downwardly under a certain set of circumstances set forth hereinafter.

Pivotally mounted on the base 48 is an upstanding sup:

port 72. A lowvoltage mercury switch 74 is mounted is depressed,'the electrical circuitry is such that the contact-points 58 and 6t) energize the signal 128. Since the coin switch 104 was 'notclosed by 'a coin, the solenoid 76 will not. be energized. Thus, as the arm 54 is depressechthe disk 6 6willbe rotated so that the word 7 free is viewable through thewindow 64 thus indicating on the upper end of .the support 72v and a high voltage solenoid 76 is provided with a movable core that iscon nected to the support 72 by virtue of a rod 78. :A timer in the form of a piston and cylinder arrangement S0' is connected to the support member 72 by a piston rod 82.

.The piston rod 82 is provided'with an articulately'connected rod 84 that extends to and is connected to the lower end of: a spring clip whichfrictionally grips the radial projection 68 and will; normally retain the projection -68 be tween the clip 86 anda partition wall 88. However,

when the solenoid 76 is energized, the spring clip will-be pulled away from the partition 88 by the action of the solenoid for a predetermined length of time as determined by the timer whereupon the disk may rotate since the projection 68 provides an unbalance. In FIGURES,

the upstanding support is' designated by the numeral and the solenoid and timer is carried by 'a partition bracket 90. I The base 15 is an elongated solid member 92 carrying conductor sockets 94 for receiving conductorpins 966X-1 tendingdownwardly from the bottom48. The conductor sockets 94-are connected to electrical conductors 98 extending to alike pairv of sockets 100-for connection to a low voltage switch 102 .by the same type of projecting conductor pins. The switch 102 is provided with a pair of contacts 104 which are normally'spac'ed from'each other.

The contacts 104. are located under one 'end of an elongated fulcrum member 166 forming the bottomot of time.

that the person pushing thelever has taken ,a free play. Also, the motor 44-. is'energized for apredetermined length Thus, when'the lever is depressed without depositing a coin, the signal device will operate and the turntable will operate and the indicatordisk'66 will move to reveal the word free through the window 64.

Whena coin is donated, the switch contacts 104 are closed. This silently and immediately energizes electromagnet 130 and solenoid 76. The solenoid 76' moves 1 the support 72.-outwardly in relation to the partition 88 .thus moving the spring clip 86 outwardly for a predetermined length of time as determined by the timer. The mercury switch 74 willthen energize the motor and the force of .gravity will urge. the disk 66 back to a normal position with thefbonus? revealed; through the window.

The signal device or hell 128 iwillnot be energized since.

lever'50 is not used when a vcoinis deposited in the device.

While only a single indicator; disk66 has been illustrated, disks can be placed on both the. front and rear walls with corresponding windowsso that the nature of the transaction can be easilydetermined. It is only necessaryto duplicate the the disk and interconnect the same by a-rigid stiff wire.v

It is thought that withthe details as 'set forth that itheidevice will-'readily be. understood and that it will a key chute 108 having an entrance slot 110 in the upper Wall of the casing or housing 112., The fu'lcrum ltifiis provided with a hook end 114 and also a dependingarm 116 having a limit stop 118 associated therewith. 'When a coin 120 is dropped into the slot 110, it willjengage the end of the fulcrum overlying the switch points 194- and causethe switch points to close as illustrated in FIGURE 7. Due to the incline of the fulcrum, the coin 123 will roll down the fulcrum thus pushing down the hook end 114 so that it will engage the notched end 122 of a star wheel124 which prevents passage of the last deposited coin and retains the last deposited coin 126 in front ofa transparent window 126. Thus, the, star wheel 12% Will retain the coin-120 behind the window until such time as another coin is deposited into the opening 110 which will release a coin as indicated in FIGURE 7. When no coin is dropped in the chute or opening. 110, the points, 164

remain open and the switch is open and when a coin is droppedin, the switch is closed. The depending arm 116,

prevents rotation of the ,star wheel 124 more than one quarter of a revolution for each deposit of a coin since. this moves into the path of the subsequent arm of the star wheel and prevents rotation until the .coin pushes down the hooked end 114. p i

The step down transformer 22, as will be appreciated, is connected to the one of'the contacts 194 while theother mn ant 104 is connected to a conventional relay solenoid accomplish the desired results of increasing the. percentage .of persons contributing to various worthy charities or the t like and the device maybe installed in any suitable area adjacent an entrance sothat all persons entering a meeting, .social gathering or the like ,may have access thereto. .,It is noted that the timer is provided With an adjustment to varythe'tim'e' of'operation .of the motor so that the device maybe operated at agreater or lesser'time element or increment depending upon the rate in ingress of persons using the device.

The foregoing is considered ,as' illustrative only of, the

; principles ofv the invention. Further, since numerous .modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled injthe art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and de- 'cribed, and accordingly, all'suitablefmodifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention a claimed. 1

What is claimed asnew is as follows: 1. An' actuatable chance device. operable. olf a high voltage, power circuit including a rotatably mounted turntable, a" motor drivinglyiconnected to the turntable; a transformer connected ,to, the power circuit for establishing a source of low voltage, asignal means, manually operable switch means for simultaneously connecting said low voltage source to the signal means and the motor for energization thereof, position sensitive switch. means 70v activated'to alternatively connect the motor only to the low voltage source,'switch activating means for activating saidposition' sensitive. switch means, coin operated relay means connected to the low voltage source for connecting theswitch activating means to the high voltage circuit for operation thereof.

2. The combination as defined in claim 1 including a visual indicating means movable in response to an actuation of both the manually operable switch means and the position sensitive switch means so as to present a visual indication of which switch means has been activated.

3. A chance apparatus including an actuatable device, a motor drivingly connected to said device, an alarm, a source of voltage, manually operable switch means for simultaneously connecting said source to the alarm and the motor for energization thereof, and coin operable switch means for alternatively connecting said source to the motor only.

4. The combination of claim 3 wherein the apparatus includes a housing, said actuatable device consisting of a rotatably mounted horizontally orientated turntable located within the housing, a transparent panel in said hous ing located so as to provide a view of the upper surface of the turntable, and enclosing wall means provided in conjunction with the turntable for the retention of gaming elements thereon.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,125,236 7/38 Edgeworth 194-9 X SAMUEL F. COLEMAN, Primary Examiner. 

1. AN ACTUATABLE CHANCE DEVICE OPERABLE OFF A HIGH VOLTAGE POWER CIRCUIT INCLUDING A ROTATABLE MOUNTED TURNTABLE, A MOTOR DRIVINGLY CONNECTED TO THE TURNTABLE, A TRANSFORMER CONNECTED TO THE POWER CIRCUIT FOR ESTABLISHING A SOURCE OF LOW VOLTAGE, A SIGNAL MEANS, MANUALLY OPERABLE SWITCH MEANS FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY CONNECTING SAID LOW VOLTAGE SOURCE TO THE SIGNAL MEANS AND THE MOTOR FOR ENERGIZATION THEREOF, POSITION SENSITIVE SWITCH MEANS ACTIVATED TO ALTERNATIVELY CONNECT THE MOTOR ONLY TO THE LOW VOLTAGE SOURCE, SWITCH ACTIVATING MEANS FOR ACTIVATING SAID POSITION SENSITIVE SWITCH MEANS, COIN OPERATED RELAY MEANS CONNECTED TO THE LOWER VOLTAGE SOURCE FOR CONNECTING THE SWITCH ACTIVATING MEANS TO THE HIGH VOLTAGE CIRCUIT FOR OPERATION THEREOF. 